Lips of an Angel
by amberissmiling
Summary: I recently heard Hinders "Lips of an Angel" and it instantly made me think of Brooke and Lucas. I'm sure there are a blue million of these stories, but one more won't hurt. :


"Brooke?" he whispered lowly as he got out of bed, looking over to see that Peyton hadn't stirred. He thought about waking her, but something held him back. Brooke had called his phone, not Peyton's. She wanted to talk to him.

"Hey," she said softly, voice trembling.

Lucas walked out of the bedroom and opened the front door, stepping out onto the porch. "Why are you calling so late?" he asked, worried. "Is everything okay? You sound like you're crying." He kept his voice low, not wanting to wake Peyton or Sawyer.

"No, everything's fine," Brooke told him, voice still wobbly. The sound of her tears pierced his heart and he closed his eyes.

"The boys and Julian?" he asked, wincing a little at the name as he always did.

"Fine," she told him. "Lucas…"

His heart raced at the sound of her voice saying his name. All she'd ever had to do was say his name and he was lost. "It's good to hear your voice," he said finally. They'd not talked much in the past couple of years, each busy with their new families and lives. "I think about you every day," he told her before he could stop himself. "I miss you."

Brooke let out a soft sob, nodding though he couldn't see her. She was standing on her front porch as well, watching the rain. "I'm so happy," she told him when she could speak. "I love my husband and the boys are perfect…" She took a breath. "How are Peyton and Sawyer?"

Lucas looked up at the house. "They're sleeping," he told her with a smile. "They're great." He hesitated. "Brooke…"

The sound comforted her, melted her. "I miss you too," she told him. "I miss you every day."

"Sometimes I wish…" he stopped, sighing. "Sometimes I wish she was you."

Brooke sat on the swing, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I shouldn't have kept pushing you away," she told him, wiping a tear from her face. "I was scared that you were going to break my heart again." She paused for a moment. "I dream about you, about us."

Lucas sat down on his top step, looking up at the clear night sky. He could hear the rain coming through the phone and knew Tree Hill was getting a shower. It seemed like so far away and so close at the same time. "I dream of you, too," he told her. "I dream of us dancing in the rain."

Brooke laughed through her tears, almost able to see them standing in the road. "When I dream of us, we're dancing."

Lucas looked back up at the house. "Does Julian know you're talking to me?" he asked.

"No," Brooke told him, rocking the swing gently. "I wouldn't know what to say to him."

"Would he be upset?"

"I don't want to hurt him," she said after a moment. "I think it would hurt him if he knew. Did you tell Peyton I called?"

"No, she's still asleep. I don't want to hurt her, either." He shook his head. "I guess we never really moved on, did we?"

"I didn't," she told him. "I know that I was supposed to, but I couldn't."

"I can't forget you, Brooke," he told her. "I'm always going to be in love with you."

Brooke's breath caught on a sob. "And I'll always love you." She leaned her head back.

"That's why we can't move back there," he told her, admitting it to himself for the first time. "If I was close to you…it would break my heart every day."

"I was relieved when Peyton said you guys weren't moving back," Brooke told him. "I'm ashamed of myself, but it's true."

"I should have fought harder," he told her. "I shouldn't have let you push me away."

They were silent for a moment. "But that was yesterday," Brooke told him. "And what we had is lost."

"I'll never forget it," Lucas told her quietly. "And I'll love you forever, Brooke Davis."

Brooke smiled a little, nodding. "I'll love you forever too, Lucas Scott," she told him.

After they hung up, she stayed on the swing for a while, thinking about how different her life would be if she hadn't broken up with the love of her life. One of the boys started crying inside and she got up, walking into the house. Stepping through the door, she thought about how much she truly loved Julian and how her boys made her life worth living; she really was happy. Every now and then, though, the part of her heart that Lucas lived in ached and she got lost in what might have been. She figured she always would.

Lucas checked on Sawyer and then crawled back into bed beside Peyton. He listened to the steady sound of her breathing and thought about how lucky he was to have the life he did. He had a beautiful wife that he loved and a daughter that made his heart smile. Brooke had said that she was happy, and he believed her. He was happy too, usually.

But Brooke was a ray of light, warming his soul every time he thought of her. His heart would never fully belong to Peyton, and the part of it that Brooke still held longed to hold her again, to kiss her again…to make her laugh again. The sound, coming from the lips of an angel, made him weak. It caused him to get caught up in what ifs and what might have beens.

He rolled over, looking at a picture Peyton kept beside the bed; it had the two of them, Nathan, Haley and Brooke. His eyes traced the curve of Brooke's smile, the tilt of her head. He realized now that she was the love of his life.

You never get over losing the love of your life, he thought as his eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep. You're not supposed to.


End file.
